I would bet that the inflatable slide works much the same as a car airbag. It’s not like they deflate it, fold it back up, and stuff it back in the plane. The plane is now “damaged” in the sense that they can’t fly it until they replace the expended slide.
Yes, but by reading the cite, the fact that the emergency door is open means that the plane is no longer “in flight” so you can feel free to leave. When the inflatable slide is deployed, we are past that “moment” and no longer in the “special aviation” jurisdiction of the United States.
See, I love the way laws are drafted with loopholes.
But do the crew have the right not to open them?
So if, say, someone died of dehydration, should the crew just say “I was only following orders”? Should, say, a prison camp inmate being tortured try not to make his captors lives miserable because the guards are 'just following orders"?